Political Science Commons^™

2015 Louisiana Gubernatorial Runoff Survey, Edward E. Chervenak, Survey Research Center, University Of New Orleans

Survey Research Center Publications

The University of New Orleans Survey Research Center (SRC) conducted a statewide telephone poll of 600 likely voters in Louisiana. Telephone numbers were selected at random from a sample frame of likely voters. A likely voter is defined as an individual who has voted at least three times in the last five statewide elections. Interviews were conducted November 2-8, 2015. The combined landline and cell phone sample matches the gender, age, and race parameters from the voter file obtained from the Louisiana Secretary of State. The margin of error is +/- 4.0 percent at a 95% level of confidence.

The Un, Regional Sanctions And Africa, Andrea Charron, Clara Portela

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Africa is the continent most targeted by sanctions. During the Cold War, when the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) was all but paralysed, the only sanctions regimes that the UN imposed were directed at countries located on the African continent: Southern Rhodesia and South Africa, penalized for their apartheid regimes. In the post-Cold War era, Africa has continued to register the highest frequency of sanctions, applied not only by the UN but by other organizations as well. Africa’s own regional bodies, such as the African Union (AU) and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), are active in wielding …

Taking Sino-Singapore Ties To A New Level, Tan K. B. Eugene

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

With China’s President Xi Jinping’s first State visit to Singapore last weekend, there is no doubt that the establishment of an “all round partnership” is catalytic in taking Sino-Singapore bilateral ties to a new level.

Identity And Security In China: The Negative Soft Power Of The China Dream, William A. Callahan

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Joseph Nye concentrates on the positive attractive aspects of soft power as a foreign policy tool. This article will argue that the Chinese discussion of soft power is interesting because it does the opposite: soft power is negative rather than positive, and is employed as a tool in domestic policy more than in foreign affairs. It will use Chinese President Xi Jinping's new ‘China Dream’ discourse to explore China's ‘negative soft power’ strategy. Rather than take for granted that we understand what the ‘Chinese values’ are that inform the PRC's soft power, it argues that soft power discourse is a …

Magna Carta Then And Now: A Symbol Of Freedom And Equal Rights For All, Eugene K. B. Tan, Jack Tsen-Ta Lee

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

Magna Carta became applicable to Singapore in 1826 when a court system administering English law was established in the Straits Settlements. This remained the case through Singapore’s evolution from Crown colony to independent republic. The Great Charter only ceased to apply in 1993, when Parliament enacted the Application of English Law Act to clarify which colonial laws were still part of Singapore law. Nonetheless, Magna Carta’s legacy in Singapore continues in a number of ways. Principles such as due process of law and the supremacy of law are cornerstones of the rule of law, vital to the success, stability and …

In Search Of Peace: Restructuring The Us-Iran Relationship In Light Of The 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan Of Action, Samuel E. Winkler

Senior Honors Theses

This thesis attempts to ask how the United States should conduct foreign policy towards Iran given the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), agreed to on 14 June 2015. The 2015 JCPOA initiated a drastic shift in US foreign policy toward Iran. It is now up to US policy makers to craft a coherent Iran foreign policy moving forward from the agreement. In order to accomplish this, the vitriolic relationship between Iran and the United States, which contains two concurrent narratives, must be examined. The dual narratives are the history of the successive US Presidential administrations’ relations with Iran, and …

Pope Benedict Xvi, (President?) Ron Brown, And Workers' Rights, David L. Gregory

Journal of Civil Rights and Economic Development

No abstract provided.

Lecture Transcript: Ambassador Bolewski-Oxford Speaking Notes, Wilfried Bolewski

The Journal of International Relations, Peace Studies, and Development

Ambassador Wilfried Bolewski, who teaches the Diplomacy and International Law classes at AGS was invited by Oxford University to give a Public Lecture on “Diplomacy and Crises: A practitioner’s insight and outlook” in the Global Governance and Diplomacy Public Speaker Series on February 9, 2015. “I am looking forward to this academic venue to explore new perspectives for the role of Diplomacy as facilitator for Global Governance,” says Professor Bolewski.

Lecture Transcript: Female Genital Mutilation (Fgm), Lorraine Koonce

The Journal of International Relations, Peace Studies, and Development

On 4 February 2015, Ms. Koonce was invited to the American Graduate School in Paris (AGS) to give a lecture as part of the AGS’s continued work on violence against women, with a discussion on female genital mutilation (FGM). The following is the transcript of her speech.

Bad News For Refugees By Greg Philo, Emma Briant And Pauline Donald London: Pluto Press, 2013. 203 Pp. (Isbn 978 0 7453 3432 5), David Feldman

The Journal of International Relations, Peace Studies, and Development

A project of researchers associated with the Glasgow Media Group, Bad News for Refugees seeks to shed light on the role of the media in shaping public opinion of refugees in the United Kingdom. Activists have denounced the increasing vilification of refugees by politicians and the press over the past decade and a half, and highlighted its coincidence with a shift towards a more punitive state response (Webber 2012). In view of the anti-migrant Ukip party’s triumph in the EU parliamentary elections of May 2014, this book is an especially timely study that could prove useful in the fight against …

Corporate Europe: How Big Business Sets Policies On Food, Climate And War By David Cronin London: Pluto Press, 2013. 216 Pp. (Isbn: 9780745333328), Steve Mcgiffen

The Journal of International Relations, Peace Studies, and Development

David Cronin’s book is based on years as a journalist in Brussels looking at the way in which the European Union’s institutions really work. This reviewer spent thirteen years working at the European Parliament and, before that, five years sharing his time between academe and work as an advisor to a Member of that same Parliament. Cronin and I have come to very much the same conclusions. If our analysis is not largely reflected in that of the vast majority of academic ‘experts’ on the European Union, it has become almost ubiquitous out there on the streets and in the …

Engaging Global Civil Society: Shifting Normative Frameworks, Moral Diplomacy, & The Future Of International Relations, Jozef A. Kosc

The Journal of International Relations, Peace Studies, and Development

The following exposition outlines a synthesized account of diplomatic relations in the 21st century, highlighting the crucial importance of engaging the Global Civil Society (NGOs and civil society) in an age of global communication, and stressing the importance of the development of a new system of diplomacy, drawing upon the best elements of existent theories. A comparative qualitative framework of analysis—cross-referencing historical cases, political psychology, as well as the writings of diplomatic practitioners—synthesizes the most accurate elements of two contemporary theories of international relations: Lyn Boyd-Judson’s Strategic Moral Diplomacy, and Mervyn Frost’s Constitutive Theory of International Relations. The paper concludes …

Does Information Want To Be Free? Hacktivism And The Democratization Of Information, Ashley Gorham

The Journal of International Relations, Peace Studies, and Development

It was at the first Hackers’ Conference in 1984 that Stewart Brand coined the phrase “information wants to be free.” There are many ways to interpret this statement, but the most prevalent one is the “deterministic” interpretation. According to this reading, information is understood as possessing an innate tendency toward freedom—what it “wants,” it gets. Information is seen as self-moving and progressive. Implicit in this understanding is the belief that information will promote equality and democracy as it grows. The deterministic interpretation’s strongest proponents are the three W’s: Wonks, Writers, and the Wired. Politicians, political advisors, media members and technological …

U.S. Pakistan Relations During The Cold War, Lubna Sunawar, Tatiana Coutto

The Journal of International Relations, Peace Studies, and Development

Since the end of British India’s colonial rule in 1947 and the subsequent partition of the South Asian subcontinent, Pakistan’s foreign policy has been driven largely by geopolitical and ideological concerns. Located at the crossroads of the Middle East and South Asia, and relatively close to the Soviet Union (USSR) and Europe, Pakistan emerged not only as a potential bridge between the oil-rich Persian Gulf, energy-hungry East Asia, and the West[1], but also as a channel to ‘the Muslim World’. Such potential, however, has never been fulfilled: unsettled territorial disputes with India, along with irreconcilable national identity claims, weak intra-regional …

Environmental Imperatives And International Relations Canada’S Challenge To Environmental Diplomacy, Mark Stoller

The Journal of International Relations, Peace Studies, and Development

Successful negotiation of multilateral environmental treaties poses a formidable challenge to the diplomatic community. The spread of environmental concerns through domestic and international politics has been steady since the late 1960s. Often, efforts to implement measures to protect the natural environment have pitted traditional sources of economic strength and political power against popular demands of active constituents and local communities. For the politically disenfranchised, the environment has provided access to discussions concerning industrial growth and the adverse impacts on communal living.[1] Many of the impacts felt from environmental politics stem from local affairs, but they have implications for global politics …

Waging War On The Citizen: State Sovereignty, Citizen Death And The War On Terror, Lina Nasr El Hag Ali

The Journal of International Relations, Peace Studies, and Development

One of the defining features of the contemporary era is the occurrence of non-localized warfare, in which the enemy can be considered fluid and always changing. The above quote reminds us that history has provided multiple examples of how wars are apt to change and shift the foundations of states; but there is something unique to be said about the qualities of modern war and the change it has prompted. A military technological revolution has culminated in the unprecedented use of drones as primary agents of war (specifically in the “War on Terror”), which has in turn shifted the traditional …

Authoritarian Breakdown In The Arab World: Linkages, Leverage And Regime Type, Natasha Ezrow

The Journal of International Relations, Peace Studies, and Development

Scholars (see Levitsky and Way, 2005) have highlighted the importance of linkages and leverage in facilitating authoritarian breakdown. By linkages, we are referring to the ties that authoritarian regimes have to the United States, the European Union and other Western dominated international institutions and leverage refers to how vulnerable authoritarian regimes are to external pressure from these actors. But what previous scholars have failed to emphasize is that the type of authoritarian regime (i.e., personalist, military and single party) affects how much power international actors have in facilitating the ousting of an autocrat. With the recent events of the Arab …

Overview Of The Diplomatic Landscape, Patrick Bratton

The Journal of International Relations, Peace Studies, and Development

This essay outlines a so-called paradigm shift that is occurring in regard to diplomacy and global politics in general. This is a paradigm shift away from the nation-state towards both non-state actors and individuals, and towards regional and global movements and organizations. In terms of diplomacy, this is seen as moving away from the images of old men in striped pants at formal summits to social movements uniting through social media, sometimes called “citizen diplomacy” or “digital diplomacy”. This inaugural issue, with contributions from AGS students and faculty, will explore and problematize many of these issues. To put the issues …

Inaugural Issue Introduction, Eileen Servidio

The Journal of International Relations, Peace Studies, and Development

The American Graduate School in Paris is introducing its inaugural issue of the Journal of International Relations, Peace & Development Studies.

Associated with Arcadia University’s M.A. program in Peace and Conflict Resolution, this journal aspires to encourage discourses that promote non-violence in all aspects of international affairs. Nevertheless, keeping with AGS’s standard of respecting and listening to “the other”, all articles that meet AGS’s high standards of research will be considered for publication, no matter the opinion.

Wasting My Vote: Why I Am An "Independent", Jason Lief

Faculty Work Comprehensive List

"What gives shape to my political views are issues of justice: caring for the poor, the widow, and the orphan."

Posting about ­­­­­­­­issues that influence our voting from In All Things - an online hub committed to the claim that the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ has implications for the entire world.

http://inallthings.org/wasting-my-vote-why-i-am-an-independent/

The Effect Of Neoliberalism On Capabilities: Evaluating The Case Of Mexico, James Paul Walker

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The goal of this thesis is to examine the effect of neoliberalism on developing nations. Specifically it will look at how neoliberalism has affected Mexico via the North American Free Trade Agreement. Mexico was chosen because since its depression in 1982 it has adopted continuing neoliberal policy, which according to its leaders, United States leaders, and international governmental bodies, is the path to development and the improvement of the standard of living for all people. This work begins by examining the historical path of neoliberalism to provide context for choosing Mexico for the focal point of this thesis, as well …

Female Gubernatorial Candidates In Purple States: A Case Study Of New Mexico And Arizona, Brittany Klug

Scholarly Undergraduate Research Journal at Clark (SURJ)

This research serves to determine how the political ideology of Republican female candidates, in conjunction with political and cultural factors, affects the outcome of gubernatorial elections. An analysis of two 2010 gubernatorial races, taking place in New Mexico and Arizona, will use a case study approach to test the hypothesis that no single aspect of a candidate will ultimately decide the outcome of an election. This paper will also use an alternative ideol- ogy score to compare candidates, in addition to examining the history of female politicians. The findings support the hypothesis that one factor does not unilaterally determine an …

Reproductive Rights In Latin America: A Case Study Of Guatemala And Nicaragua, Katherine W. Bogen

Scholarly Undergraduate Research Journal at Clark (SURJ)

A lack of access to contraceptives and legal abortion for women throughout the nations of Nicaragua and Guatemala creates critical health care problems. Moreover, rural and underprivileged women in Guatemala and Nicaragua are facing greater limitations to birth control access, demonstrating a classist aspect in the global struggle for female reproductive rights. Although some efforts have been made over the past half-century to initiate a dialogue on the failure of medical care in these nations to adequately address issues of maternal mortality and reproductive rights, the women's reproductive health movements of Nicaragua and Guatemala have struggled to reach an effective …

A Languid Canadian Election Turns Into A Competitive Race, Cris De Clercy

Political Science Publications

Canadians go to the polls on Monday after an unusually long election campaign. Cristine de Clercy writes that since the election was called on August 2^nd, the polls have shifted markedly, with the Liberal Party – which has been out of power for a decade – approaching the 40 percent support mark which may allow it to form a majority government. Despite the poll numbers, she cautions that recent boundary changes and the potential for shifts in public opinion and for polling errors mean that the election’s outcome is still anyone’s guess.

Read more on the London School …

Steering In Rough Waters, Erika Simpson

Political Science Publications

No abstract provided.

A Way Around The Divided House Majority, Charles L. Weise, Bruce A. Larson

Economics Faculty Publications

For observers of the U.S. Congress, the inability of Republicans to unite behind a candidate for speaker has been by turn fascinating, exasperating, and frightening. When and if a candidate is finally chosen, Republicans will breathe a sigh of relief, as will many commentators. The real crisis, however, will have just begun. [excerpt]

A Transformation In American National Politics: The 2012 Presidential Election, Douglas Brattebo, Tom Lansford, Jack Covarrubias

University of Akron Press Publications

The presidential election of 2012, one of the most important in American history, was the product of complex and fast-moving changes—demographic, technological, and economic—surfacing in American society. Particularly prominent in the scholarly analyses in this volume (a companion volume to Culture, Rhetoric, and Voting: The Presidential Election of 2012) are: the status of the two main political parties and their core constituencies; demographic forces and geographic trends; the strategies and tactics of the two campaigns; and the decisive impact of economic, domestic, and foreign policies.

‘Capitalism A Nuh’ Wi Frien’. The Formatting Of Farming Into An Asset, From Financial Speculation To International Aid, Luigi Russi, Tomaso Ferrando

Catalyst: A Social Justice Forum

This paper deciphers the formatting of farming into an asset by tracking the modalities by which financial calculation is enabled across different sites of agency.

The first focus of our analysis are commodity futures markets, which have witnessed a double spike in prices in 2008 and in 2012. In the paper, we look at these hikes as the outcome of endogenous dynamics, caused by the changing makeup of market participants after 2000, which turned futures markets into resources for hedging commodity index-linked derivative products.

We subsequently analyse the increasing reliance on financial actors placed by public development agencies that channel …

The Liberal As An Enemy Of Queer Justice, Craig Schamel

Catalyst: A Social Justice Forum

Abstract

Liberalism as a historical mode of the political is the context in which the movement and ensuing struggle for queer justice emerged in most Western countries. The terminology, practices, tendencies, beliefs, ethics, laws, and patterns of political and social life which have been determined by this mode of the political, it is argued, are inimical to queer justice and render its achievement impossible. Liberalism as a mode of the political is approached from below, from knowledge gained in practical experience in queer groups which considered themselves revolutionary at least to some degree, and from the effects on such groups …

Democrats And Demography: America’S Changing Demographics And The 2016 Election, American Enterprise Institute, Brookings Mountain West

Brookings Mountain West Special Events

On October 13, Democratic presidential candidates took the stage in Las Vegas for their first primary debate of the 2016 election. This cycle, both Democrats and Republicans face a defining challenge: a new America with a rapidly changing demographic profile — in terms of race, ethnicity, generation, age, and region. What do these changes mean for both parties nationally, and in the Mountain West states in particular? What demographic challenges do both parties face in 2016?

This panel brought together a group of experts to discuss the changes, their significance, and the possibilities for political success. The discussion includes a …